As PennLive’s Donald Gilliland so ably reported last week, the causes for the two cities’ financial woes are dramatically different. Critically, state officials say they’re close to working out a deal to resolve the city’s debt problem through the sale of Harrisburg’s incinerator and the leasing of its parking assets.

But if that deal were to fall through – and if Harrisburg were forced to file for bankruptcy – then the fate of Detroit, as well as that of Stockton, Calif., and Jefferson, County, Ala., could be relevant. That’s because of the legal precedents that would be set in those communities’ respective bankruptcy filings, Gilliland reported.

Detroit’s debt is an eye-watering $18 billion, while Harrisburg’s is much smaller at $345 million. With a population of 700,000, Detroit has roughly14 times as many residents as Harrisburg, which has 49,500. And the per-capita debt in Detroit is $25,714, compared to $6,970 per-person in Harrisburg.

But there is one statistic where the two cities, alarmingly, do line up. About a third of Detroit’s population, 36 percent, lives below the poverty line. Nearly the same amount, 31.6 percent, live below the poverty line in Harrisburg.

And that goes to a core problem facing American cities – a staggering gap in wealth. Some metropolises, such as New York City and Los Angeles, are havens for the ultra-wealthy.

But in the case of struggling cities, such as Harrisburg and Detroit, those with the resources to flee have fled, leaving behind residents who simply do not have the economic wherewithal to pay for the array of services that keep the modern city functioning.

And it is situation that, at least for now, is unlikely to improve.

Nationwide, cities’ general fund revenues declined for a sixth straight year in fiscal 2012, as local property and income tax collections declined, according to data compiled by the National League of Cities.

Responding to shifts both economic and demographic, municipal leaders as well as “civic, community, business, labor and environmental leaders—are responding with pragmatism, energy and ambition to, as we say in America, ‘get stuff done,’ Katz told an economic panel in the Netherlands last spring.

Engaged citizens in Harrisburg and its suburbs are also stepping up, recognizing, as we have stressed so often in the past, that the Capital region’s continued financial health is inextricably tied to the Capital City’s financial recovery and future vibrancy.

So for a variety of reasons, Harrisburg is not, and cannot be, Detroit. But the lessons taught by its travails are still worth learning.